Also: I read (or at least tried to read, it was a bit of a slog because it was a rather dry academic paper that someone was hoping to market to a popular audience) a book called Queer Cowboys, about homoerotic meaning in American novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries, mostly westerns.
The author talked about a particular trope where the story is told from the POV of a 'sidekick' type character whose role is to constantly admire the protagonist and be astonished by his feats of strength, bravery, brains, etc. and just generally show the reader how awesome the hero is. It's not just in American novels, it's in all the British Victorian literature too, and Watson is a perfect example.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-16 03:08 pm (UTC)The author talked about a particular trope where the story is told from the POV of a 'sidekick' type character whose role is to constantly admire the protagonist and be astonished by his feats of strength, bravery, brains, etc. and just generally show the reader how awesome the hero is. It's not just in American novels, it's in all the British Victorian literature too, and Watson is a perfect example.